Known in the art is an internal combustion engine wherein an NOX storage reduction catalyst is arranged in an engine exhaust passage and a hydrocarbon feed valve is arranged in an engine exhaust passage upstream of the NOX storage reduction catalyst, a low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system is provided for recirculating exhaust gas inside the engine exhaust passage downstream of the NOX storage reduction catalyst to the inside of the intake passage, and hydrocarbons are fed from a hydrocarbon feed valve to make the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the NOX storage reduction catalyst temporarily rich when releasing the stored NOX from the NOX storage reduction catalyst (for example, see PTL 1). In this regard, in this internal combustion engine, if hydrocarbons are injected from the hydrocarbon feed valve to release NOX from the NOX storage reduction catalyst, exhaust gas which includes a large amount of hydrocarbons is recirculated by the low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system to the inside of the intake passage. As a result, the air-fuel ratio inside the combustion chamber becomes low, so fluctuation of combustion occurs and torque fluctuation which gives a passenger an uncomfortable feeling ends up occurring. Therefore, in this internal combustion engine, to prevent such torque fluctuation from occurring, when hydrocarbons are injected from the hydrocarbon feed valve to release NOX from the NOX storage reduction, the amount of recirculated exhaust gas which is recirculated inside the intake passage in synchronization with the recirculation timing of hydrocarbons by the low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system is reduced.